The Economy: Price Vigilance

The U.S. has come to expect higher
prices as the cost of better times. The remarkable thing about the
current advance is that prices have so far stayed relatively level,
and that inflation has remained a bogeyman instead of a jingling
presence. Nonetheless, the nation's economists are increasingly concerned about the possibility of broad upward price movements. That concern has been reinforced lately by rumblings from steel executives
about the need for price rises and by signs that the United Auto
Workers are determined to win a substantial settlement from the
profit-heavy auto...